The Collinsport Chronicles XXX: Julias secret
by Maryland Rose
Summary: Julia told Barnabas that she had never met a vampire before. But that was not true. Now we hear the real story from her.
1. Chapter 1

Adam has repainted Quentin's portrait, and he is now free of it, free to change and develop. Adam plans to work on his own portrait next. Hallie has become a phoenix and seduced David. She is offering sacrifices to Ra with the help of the gypsy Zoya Zalisky. Yolanda is seeking a power source that will allow her to get revenge on Angelique.

* * *

JULIA'S SECRET

Chapter 1

Quentin sat huddled, sobs coming out of it.

Adam looked t him, then to Angelique, then back to Quentin.

"It he still like this?" he asked with awe mixed with little disgust.

"You know what the conditions of his release are. He has to weep, abundantly."

"But will he ever be able to get up and resume living?"

Angelique studied Adam critically "Are you having second thoughts?"

Adam did not answer, fascinated as he was with Quentin.

"Are you afraid" Angelique insisted " that if you fix up your portrait you'll end up like him?"

Adam nodded.

"You should not be. You don't have as many things to regret in the first place. And you have not been holding them in check for that long."

"Still, some of the things I did.. Like the way I stood between Carolyn and Elizabeth, just to hurt Barnabas. Not that he did not deserve it. But they certainly did not."

"Liz knew what she was getting into. She used you as much as you used her. As to Carolyn, you plan to make it up to her, don't you?"

"Yes. I am."

"You two belong together. And with Quentin gone, it won't be long before Carolyn gets a divorce and marries you."

Adam shook his head "She may well divorce Quentin, but as to marrying me... she seemed scared of me. Of what I had become. And then you know why she married Quentin."

"To become Carolyn Collins. To carry on the family name."

"Yes." Angelique knew that to be true. Carolyn had changed greatly in the last year. But not enough. Not in what touched the family pride. Her reconciliation with Barnabas had meant that David had had to sign away his inheritance right in exchange for a settlement. And Vicky had had to renounce any hopes she might have as Roger's child... Would Carolyn be willing to lose her last name of Collins? Well, she and Adam might well live together..

"Well" Adam sighed "that is for the future to worry about. One thing at a time."

Quentin sobbed again, then looked around "You?" he asked Adam "What do you care? Is there anything else?"

"I came by to see how you are doing."

"As you see." Quentin's voice was toneless. Adam looked at Quentin's face, trying to read it. Was there really hatred in that face? Had his gift to Quentin brought about this despair? Could Quentin ever look at him with anything resembling forgiveness?

Maybe even affection?

"I... I am working on my own portrait. Just as I worked on yours."

"And you want to know if it is worth it? Well, it is not. I can't stand the pain. Why did you let me know myself? Why not just kill me?"

"Quentin..."

"No." Quentin turned his face away "Don't say it. Don't say it how it is for my own good, that I am finally free, and that soon I will thank you for it. Because it isn't true. It isn't for the best. And I will never be glad for this."

"You will feel different when this is over."

"You think so? No. I will never be well again."

Adam retreated. He had no argument to offer. Time would tell who of them was right.

Angelique had a small, half-cynical smile when he looked at her. "What do you think?" he asked her.

"Self-pity, that's what I think. He's not in the habit of suffering. He still can't believe that it could happen to him. Oh, he's changing, he's learning. But he's not happy about having to learn. No one is happy about that. If it was up to us, we'd be children forever, with our parents to take care of us. But that is not to be. Quentin will grow up, even if he has to do it all of a sudden. He'll be all right."

"I wonder if I had the right."

"It was the best that could have happened to him, even if he does not want to admit it. Go ahead, work in your own portrait. And don't worry so much about Quentin."

"If anything happens to him, let me know."

"Yes. I'll let you know."

Adam looked at Quentin again "You know my story. I have no family. I did not even have the orphan's daydream of who my parents might be. I knew that I had no parents, that I never had. No chance of ever finding a faded photograph, not even some hidden memory in me. I was alone. No father, no mother, no brothers. No one. Not even a dog."

Angelique's hand rested on his shoulder. Adam noticed it and shrugged it of. It was too late for that. "Don't try to offer me anything." his voice was calm, yet could not fully disguise the anger that had followed him through the years. "Well, as I said, I gave up on the idea of having a family. I live outside. Even Liz, that was no family, it was an arrangement. I thought that maybe now Quentin could be my brother. We have much in common. But he hates me now."

"He will not hate your for very long"

* * *

"Hallie, will you marry me?"

Hallie smiled, a bit shyly, then laughed. "Well, David, I thought you'd never ask."

"Will you?""

"You are so old-fashioned." she grinned "have you thought of telling your family about it? They might not approve."

"Why shouldn't they? And it does not matter, after all. I have not talked to my father in years. He has disinherited me, and I signed away any inheritance rights to Carolyn. That was all she cared about me."

"Barnabas wants you to graduate, to make good. He probably figures that you'll do better if you stay single."

"I would not be the first married student nor the last."

"Will he understand? He has high hopes for you. I do not like to seem as if I am spoiling them. He may do something about it."

The way she said it made David bristle.

"You are not suggesting that Barnabas might do something to you."

"I am not so sure. You know him and you trust him. But I... I know what he's capable of."

"Hallie" David frowned "you have nothing to fear from him."

Hallie lifted her hand to her throat "Do you believe in reincarnation, David?"

David nodded "You are going to tell me that you used to be Maude Browning and that Barnabas killed you."

"Yes. You see, I know how dangerous and fearsome he can be."

"So do I. I learned about it in 67. But that is done and over with. You need not fear Barnabas.. He's not an ogre out of a fairy tale, ready to smash your happiness at every chance he gets. He's a human being who wants to do right by me and you. And he's the nearest thing to a father that I got."

"Maybe. But I still don't trust him."

"You'll have to get to know him better, that's all."

She would marry David. She had planned it this way. She did not for a moment thing that Barnabas would do the things he accused him of. But her reluctance, her fears would make it possible for her to keep at a distance from him when they moved to Collinsport. More important, in his efforts to bend over backwards to accommodate her, Barnabas would not be very inquisitive about her own habits. He would leave her very much alone, and she preferred it to be so.

Clumsy and naive, Barnabas could be. But also could be a dangerous adversary. Laura could tell of that. And she did not mean to share Laura's fate.

* * *

"It's been over a year, isn't it?" Barnabas asked, his head resting on George's chest.

"Yes. Over a year."

"It seems ages ago."

"Would you have thought that it would last this long?"

Barnabas tried to protest, but did not. They had survived Ruby Tate, and if anything could have pulled them apart, it had been what she had done. And it had not.

He knew that George was thinking about her, too. "Are you still angry about what happened with Ruby?"

"Still a bit, now and then." George admitted "mainly at your own stupidity. At your goddamned stupidity of delivering yourself into her hands."

"I had to."

"Yes. I guess you had to. And it turned out all right. But damn it, how could you have been so stupid?"

"I would not have blamed you if you left me for that."

"What gets me now is different."

"Nunez" Barnabas guessed.

"Yes. I know that you have told me time and again that it is none of my business. I know that you explained the whole thing to me over and over. Still..."

"Still, you wonder when I will finally let Comet go."

"You know how I feel about that."

"Yes, I do."

"You must understand my position. You judged him, passed sentence on him, and executed it, all by yourself. He had not even the chance to defend himself.

"Lack of due process, is that it?"

"Yes. The rules of society that keep our dark sides within bounds. You acted as if they did not exist. I know the arguments. He deserved worse than what he got. He did much worse himself. But the rules are not for the sake of people like him, but for us, to keep us on the straight and narrow. Were it not for the rules, I might end up being no better than Nunez... I like the power too much."

"I understand."

"Is that all your are going to say? That you understand how I feel?"

"I know your arguments, and I know how much of your anger is your hurt pride. You are the sheriff and you do not take it kindly that I went over your head. You don't like being made to look then other way. Nor the implication that you put up with it because I am your lover."

George nodded, growling.

"Is it that, then? You think that I am getting away with murder because we sleep together, and it should not be that way?"

"Yes." George admitted.

"You did favors for me before you were lovers. And you did favors for Megan, too."

"But Comet is too much. You went too far on that one. And I wonder if you'd have dared if I was not your lover."

"George..." Barnabas began to protest, but did not. It was a nasty spot that he had put George in. It touched too much George' integrity, his self-respect. He had doubts himself about Comet. He had decided on it on a white rage, feeling still Norma's pain within himself. He had been afraid, even then, that he was going too far.

"Yet, once he had started, he had to go on. For whatever reasons he had done it, he had committed himself to make Nunez into a full-fledged human being and he could not go back from that.

"George" he said. "If you were to talk to Nunez yourself, if you could see what I am trying to do, will you try to understand?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The smoke filled the cave, stinging the eyes and making it almost impossible to see. Already the large dog sitting on the ground was hidden from view by the gray mist.

George coughed as he watched Barnabas recite the words that would temporarily undo the spell and let Nunez be a man again.

The smoke thickened even more. George's eyes began to water. He looked at Barnabas. He seemed unaffected. Of course, nothing short of a stake through the heart could hurt him.

Or sunlight. Or plain loneliness. No, he could not begrudge Barnabas this one invulnerability.

There was a small explosion. George recoiled and instinctively went for his gun. But it was only the salts that Barnabas had thrown into the fire.

"It is done." Barnabas said.

The smoke thinned out, then George could see that there was a naked man where the dog had been.

"We can take him home now."

* * *

Angelique stood next to Quentin, a small bottle in her hands. She need not measure it to know that it was coming short. Quentin was not producing as many tears as he should. Maybe that would change later, but there was the possibility that Quentin did not produce all the tears he needed.

But that had not been the plan, even from the start. It was the quality not the quantity of the tears that mattered. And that was what she counted on to satisfy Carl...

... Why couldn't she have saved Carl when Magda asked her to? So much would have been spared.

Because it had been decided years before Barnabas was born that a member of the Collins family must die to atone for the crimes of its clan. And Carl had drawn the unlucky number..

* * *

Nunez was still tired, but seemed more recovered from his shock now. He did not talk much, as if he had lost the habit of speech and was not sure whether he was doing it right. He had the same trouble with newspapers. He had not read anything for quite a while. No one gives newspapers to a dog. And in a few months things changed in the world, and he had to catch up with it.

Barnabas wondered what he would say when he found out about the Falklands.

* * *

"So this is Phillip's child" Megan smiled at Vicky. While she was now her employer and advocate, still she was the former Mrs. Todd, who was now paying a visit to the current one, and her child. The only child that Phillip had left.., and there were potential awkward moments for the two of them..

"A healthy baby." Vicky could not hide her relief...,That it had been bought by Liz's death did not matter to her. She was done with the Collinses.

"Let's hope so. It is all that is left of Phillip."

"Yes. Megan, do you think that Phillip might somehow be alive? They say he killed himself for the insurance money. I don't believe it. I think that he might be alive.."

'"Stranger things have happened in this town." she shrugged. "It might well be that he will come back. But when and how..."

Vicky sighed, and Megan decided to come to the point before they both started on memory lane about Phillip.

"Tell me, have you revalidated your certificate?"

""I am doing it, but I have a lot to catch up with."

"May I offer a suggestion. Train to become an adult instructor. We need more of these than we need primary school teachers. We got adults who, like Urien, managed never to learn to read and write. We have people who need to get a better job, or a job with a future. And we need someone to teach them. "

"Why you telling me this?"

"Because I think that you are fed up with catering to rich people. You want to do more than to teach rich kids. And you need something to do. You are learning new office skills with the computer that others could also learn and help find better jobs... And because I think that this will make you feel better about yourself and stop you from brooding.."

"You want me to become an adult instructor?"

"I was planning on diversifying. An adult training center would be a good inversion. But I need good staff. If you qualify, I'd be very glad to put you in charge."

"But..."

"But you think that your marrying Phillip might make an awkward situation. It does not at the office, why should it do it now? You think that because we both loved the same man we should be enemies? I set Phillip free for his own good, and I am glad he fund someone to love him as he deserved. And now that you are seeing the Collinses for what they are, I like you a lot more."

* * *

"Nervous, darling?' David asked Hallie.

"Well, yes." Hallie admitted "after all, I am getting married And I will have to meet the in-laws sooner or later, and..."

"And you really don't want to meet Barnabas."

"I know, I know." she said, a bit wearily "You have told me this before. I should not fear him. And what happened last time I was there was not his fault... nor mine. But nothing like that happened to me before. Too many weird things happen around him."

David sighed. "You might as well say it. Too many weird things happen in Collinsport. Too many weird things happen to the Collins family. And to me. Laura _was_ my mother. It was me that she was after, not Barnabas. And." he spoke more harshly now "It was Laura who held you under a spell, not Barnabas. All he did was try to help everybody."

Hallie's cheeks reddened "I know " her voice began to rise, a bit theatrically "I know what I did. Don't you see that I am ashamed of that? I remember how it was, how I watched Redwolf bat up that old man. I remember how we were going to burn Barnabas alive. He probably remembers it too. Do you think that he'll want to see me again after that? And married to you? Caring for you as he does?"

"He won't mind. Chris! Hallie, practically everybody in town turned against him and he does not remind them of that. Buffy, you remember her, She went back to work for him, and she stayed with him until she married Frank Torrance. And George, do you think that Barnabas ever remembers that he shot Willie? Look, Hallie, you don't have experience of those things, but he does. He knows what it means to become the pawn of outside supernatural forces. It happened to him before, so he knows about it. He won't hold it against you."

"Maybe."

* * *

"He's a strong boy, all right," Willie grinned at Little Phillip.

"Yes, he is" Vick,y said, and quite healthy."

"That's great. It takes a lot of worry out of your mind. I remember when Pearl got colicky. We could barely get any sleep. And we worried a lot. We had nothing to worry about, but we worried all the same."

"She's a year old, isn't she?"

"Yes. Makes me feel old. She was this little bundle, all rosy and pretty, and now she is everywhere, getting dirty, learning words, finding things to do, most of them invoking taking this or that apart, trying to eat what she finds or..."

Vicky laughed "Be careful what she learns. I remember when the people at the orphanage decided to expose us to culture, so they too us to a museum. They showed us a mural and explained to us that it was a painting, only that it was painted on a wall. We found it fascinating Painted wall are so _much_ prettier than bare walls. So guess what we did when we came back?'

Willie laughed. "It is always a risk to expose your child to anything. They will draw the most curious lessons out of it. Did I ever tell you what happened when I found my old man's condoms? I filled them with water and went up the roof to drop them on people's heads.

"You didn't'!"

"I did. And my father really let me have it. " Willie's expression became grim. "But then he always did, with or without cause. And now he writes me saying that he'd like to come here."

"He does?"

"Yes. And Barnabas thinks that I should let him come., if only to see him again. To try for a reconciliation of sorts. I am not sure that he's worth it, though. I know, I know. You wanted to find out your parents for so long that you cannot understand how I can wish my father away. But some parents it is better to do without. For you, being raised in an orphanage might have been sad, but it would have been Heaven to me. And then to have that... that bastard come into town, pretending that he was a loving father and that I owe him something is a bit too much. I don't owe him a thing, period."

"But you still want to see him again. If only to ask him why he didn't love you more."

He gave her an irritated look. "Don't start. It is bad enough having to listen to Barnabas on the subject."

* * *

Xavier looked at the sky with exasperation. Why did it not show up? He had come back every night, ever since he had first seen the shape up there, shining, pulsating, changing colors...

And he did not have a camera then. He was with Sandy. And she hadn't really seen it. And even if she had, what good was it? An eyewitness is not good enough. Even a photograph was not good enough. But it was a start.

It bothered that of all the available documents about sightings, none of the was of his own. He collected other people's sightings, but the ones he saw himself, they had been too brief for documenting. There was time when he wondered what he was doing, why did he insist that such phenomena existed.

But they did. He had seen it again. And this time he would capture it on film.

If only he had the habit of carrying a camera with flash with him all times...

But you cannot run a business and carry out such a camera, explaining that it was for when he saw an U.F.O...

He regretted that this passion of his made him neglect Sandy. He hoped that she could understand why he had to go out night after night instead of trying to seduce her.

Sandy would understand. She somehow shared his passion of U.F.O.s even if she was reluctant to go out at night. It was not too long ago that Sandy had been a werewolf and had come close to killing her own children. Megan had saved her from that fate and she had asked Julia what she had refused before, to remove the curse from her.

She was now free of the taint. But for her the night meant terror and bad memories. She preferred to be indoors.

He hoped that Sandy continued to understand why he had to go out again and again after dark.

* * *

Nunez had remembered how to talk again. And talk he did. First with hesitation, as if he didn't really remember human speech. Then, as he grew bolder, he had trouble remembering the right words. The language barrier reared its head. About half the words Nunez used were Spanish, and often he had to stop and explain, using his hands.

That helplessness got to George. No one, no matter what he had done should be put through that. He looked at Barnabas who evaded his eyes, which meant that he too was ashamed of it.

Nunez was talking about Wyncliffe, about the little girl who responded to him and on one else. It was difficult to translate dog concepts into human words.

"She will sit there, on the floor, staring into space, but when I come into the room, she'll put her hands around my neck and say 'doggy'"

"It is good that she responds to you." Barnabas said.

"Yes, it is."

Would Barnabas finally let him off the hook? Would he allow him to keep his human shape? George noticed that he was tensing up. Was Barnabas playing with them both? What did he want" Certainly Nunez was acting like a responsible, sensitive human being.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Yolanda walked alone towards the cave. Peter had "seen" something in this direction, and she wanted to make sure that it was right.

Of course, if it was, it was probably buried under heavy rocks. She might need help to get it out. Too bad about Elizabeth. She could have done it.

As it was, Peter was too young a child, and Quentin was unwilling to trust her, not after his experience with the mask.

Never mind. She would find another way. She had some power of her own, and she might use it to get himself some unwitting helper.

A helper that she could control and would not dream of controlling her as Nicholas had done... and learned not to try again.

But first she wanted to scout the area, and determine what needed to be done.

* * *

"Well, are you gong to let him go?" George asked accusingly as if he did not expect Barnabas to respond it the affirmative.

Barnabas shook his head.

"What excuse do you have this time? That Norma will haunt you if you do it? That you still owe it to her torment him? What could possibly be this time?"

"You think that he's ready to rejoin human society?"

"Yes."

"I want to believe that, too. He's made great strides."

"Great strides? Look a the way he spoke of that girl, Melinda, how much he cares for her." he narrowed his eyes. "Is that why you are not willing to let him go? Because Melinda needs him?"

"Part of it. But then, if he was ready, as you say, he'd ask me for the chance to finish what he started with her."

"Did you offer it to him?"

"No."

"Well, do it."

Barnabas shook his head. "That is not all of it."

"What more, then?"

"Because I do not know if the job is fully done or not."

"What do you mean, the job is not done yet?"

"I am not sure that he's a real human being or not?"

"A human being by whose standards?" George was screaming now. "You mean that whether o not he gets off depends on your subjective evaluation of what a human being is? Your standards are just that, yours. Your opinion and nothing else. No objective reality behind them."

"As are most standards that we agree on." Barnabas said mildly "All right, they are subjective. I know that too well. I was raised when slavery was legal. It was not self-evident then as it is now that it was wrong. And those who objected were in the minority. They were told that, well, they were entitled to their opinion. Their own subjective values. George, I understand what being minority yourself has taught you tolerance for diversity. And that's well and good. But there are some things that should not be tolerated if we are to live in a civilized society. We cannot prove that certain values re better than others. But we can prove that we ourselves are better off if we adopt them. We can prove that there are values that we would be suicidal to adopt. What does Bernard Shaw say?"

"I have read Bernard Shaw, too. You don't have to lecture me. And I think that you are wrong in this."

"All right. I'll cut is short. Nunez is warm and compassionate when talking about Melinda a All well and good. but that's not enough. A lot of Nazis were good to their family and friends. No, the test if how he wants do deal with those he calls his enemies, or those who oppose him. That's what got him in trouble, and I have yet to see an improvement on that."

"Well, you could ask him."

"I will. And I want you to be with me."

* * *

Trask scratched his head a bit wearily "I can understand your feelings, Mrs. Todd. I share them. But there is little to be done to change it."

"I know. but still I wish I had asked Barnabas that he'd be Phillips's godfather at the christening."

"Mr. Loomis wanted the same thing. but it is completely impractical."

"And you talked him out of it?

"He talked himself out of it. For the same reason you did. Barnabas himself understands why it cannot be so. it is not me who bars him from the church. I would be most glad to welcome him. But he cannot stand the sight or touch of the cross."

"But it should not be that way."

"I know that it should not, my child."

"I am not a child!"

"I am sorry, Mrs. Todd. you are right." he sighed "I tend to forget that we are of the same age, sometimes. Believe me, I want more than anyone else for it to be possible, but it can't be."

"It seems unfair."

"It is. But tell me, Mrs. Todd, in your heart, how much difference does it make to you that he cannot be physically present?"

"None to me. But it does to him. It would mean so much to him. And when I think of how much he's helped me and not being able to be with us."

"You think that you might be ungrateful"

"Yes. Reverend."

"There is little that you or I can do about that. Accept it. And there are other ways that you can show your gratitude. And maybe those he'll appreciate more."

* * *

"Of course, we had to invade."

"But what value the Falkland islands ever had? " George asked bemused "just a lot of penguins and miserable weather. The only real value you could say they had went out when they built the Panama canal. I know, I know. there is talk of oil being found there. But from what I can understand all that talk of oil means that they found sands that _might_ show oil deposits."

"You don't understand. It is a question of National Honor." Nunez said. "the Malvinas are ours. The British stole them from us in 1833. We never stopped demanding their return. They were not taken in an act of war, but of international piracy. They are in our continental platform. It was a shame that we had to bear it too long. But no more."

George shook his head "You mean that you approve of this? Of this act of naked aggression, of this irresponsible behavior?"

"I regret that I could not participate in its glory" Nunez said, stiffening up. "I am proud to be an Argentine and a military man."

George shook his head "It seems that the Argentine military men have little to be proud of."

"What do you mean by that?"

"What I can read in the papers."

Nunez's face congested. "You mean the way the press has willfully distorted the fact about our fight against subversion."

"You want to deny that the things that are described ever happened? You want to issue a denial?"

"I will not deny our glorious and necessary struggle. It is a dirty war, and we are fighting it. We are on God's side."

"Do you agree with the man who said that sometimes it is necessary to torture ten innocent people to catch a guilty one?"

"If it needs be, then it must be done. They were tearing our country apart, trampling on our sacred traditions, and our faith. We let the Jews infiltrate themselves. We should have gotten rid of them long ago."

Barnabas turned his face away. It amused him to see Nunez hang himself so readily in George's estimation. But it saddened him, too..

He had hoped that Nunez had learned something, but he had not, evidently. he wondered if there was any point in trying. Nunez seemed incapable of learning the basics of humanity.

He had wished that George was right, that he could release Nunez. If only there had been some improvement. He had hoped for it when Nunez spoke of Melinda. But he had been right and George had been wrong.

But there should be way of reaching Nunez, of making him understand.

Why not just give up on him? He was incurable. He had been born with a heart too small. Just what was he trying to prove?

Give up on him. Let him stay a dog. He made a decent dog, after all, and he was quite useful in that capacity.

But Julia had not given up on him in 67. And he had seemed as unreachable as Nunez as now. Could he do less than Julia?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"He's sleeping now." Barnabas said.

"Yes." George grimaced "The blasted Nazi. You are right. He's not human. he makes a better dog that he makes a human being." he sighed. "I wanted Norma to get him, you know? I owed him protection, but still I wanted Norma to have her revenge. I guess that what got me was that he wore a uniform. It was not a police uniform, but still... It reminded me of the way Buffy reacted to me at first. I felt insulted by her actions. But if was somebody like Nunez who had taught her that uniforms are the enemy. I remembered what you told me about Sergeant Haskell and Captain Todd... Nunez brought it all back to me. Why should I lose sleep over someone lie that? Norma should have shot him."

"Yes. That was what I thought, too. We miscalculated."

"Yes. I did not think it through. Damn unprofessional behavior of my part. Just like when Iris came to me worried about Violet."

"I take it that you don't oppose me keeping him on a leash any longer."

"I wish that I could give you an unqualified 'yes'. But there is a part of me that insists on due process. You know, such things as a jury of one's peers, being able to confront your accusers, and the rest of it. I know. The same stuff that Nunez regularly denied his victims. But we _have_ to be better than him"

"The other problem about releasing him is that he knows too much."

"Well, Angelique can arrange something for him, as she arranged something for the FBI man."

"Maybe."

"Barnabas..."

"George, we are in a hole. Or rather, I am in a hole. I don't have other alternatives. I have to make a human being out of him. An above average human being, and make sure that he does not turn on us afterwards. I painted myself into this corner, and I have to find a way out."

George sighed again. "I know. You are right. And I don't like it a bit."

"Neither do I."

* * *

David was fast asleep when Hallie got up from the bed and went to the kitchen. She struck a match and watched the flame at her fingertips for a few seconds before using it to light a candle.

She put her face close to the flame to fight the night's chill. Later, with the years, she'd be able to endure the cold and dark of the night better. But now she needed to do this, to warm herself in the middle of the night by these means.

The little flame wavered. It would die soon, as the candle was only as stub.

But in it she thought she saw something. It came and was gone. But it spoke to her of danger.

... danger...

What kind of dange? It seemed for a moment to look like a woman. Laura? Was Laura trying to escape? Would she succeed? And if she did, how would she punish Hallie for usurping her place?

Hallie gulped. She did not like the idea of battling Laura so soon. Larua had years behind her, while she had not fully come into her powers, would not come until she offered her firstborn as a sacrifice to Ra.

She looked into the flame again, trying to see more in it.

* * *

Urien read sprawled on the ground, books strewn all around him. He did not know that there was so much that you culd read, so much that you could find out tht way.

"Do you have enough light?" Barnabas asked.

Urien grinned and pointed tot he candle stub near his head.

Barnabas repressed a grimace. Urien had not grown up with candles and thus did not know the safety rules concerning them. He believed that they were a more primitive form of flashlight.

"I wonder how this place has not burned up yet." he said to himself.

"What?"

"That you can knock that candle with your elbow if you don't pay attention."

"But..." Urien began to protest, then realized that Barnabas was right. A fire could start very easily. "I am sorry.

"You have to be careful with candles, Urien. I know how to handle them because I was raised with them. But you have to learn how. I forget how much more difficult it is for you. I should have installed electricity here, when I could still afford it. In the meantime, be extra careful."

"I am sorry." Urien said. "I just forgot."

Barnabas nodded.

"What about the man you brought here?' Urien asked "How long will he stay?"

"He will go back tomorrow. He needs to rest." It was true, these transformations took a lot out of Nunez and it was not wise to send him back sooner. And his tone made it clear to Urien that further inquiries about their guest would not be welcome. "What are you reading, by the way?"

Urien showed him the book, about sea corals "I did not know that there was so much that I did not know."

"Yes. There is much to learn."

"And I missed so many years. I don't know how I managed to live without reading for so long."

"It is a whole new world opening up."

"Yes." Urien's eyes shone. Barnabas felt pride seeing them. Urien had never looked like that before. He had never shown so much interest, so much joy.

And he had made it possible.

He wondered where he would go for there. Soon Urien would be able to pass the High Scholl Equivalence test. He might want to go to college.

But Urien was not ready for college. College would mean moving away and living by himself, unsupervised. Urien had not grown enough roots so that it was safe for him to go. David had left Collinsport for college and come back hooked again. He did not want Urien hustling once he was away from him..

Yet Urien deserved the chance for an education...

* * *

"Quentin" Adam came for him at daybreak "It is time."

Quentin nodded "Yes. I guess it is."

Adam felt like the priest accompanying the condemned man on his last mile.

And it might be so. It was a gamble and he might be taking Quentin to his execution instead of his new life.

Quentin gulped. "I wonder what Carl will do. I just hope that he is quick about it."

"It might not be so bad."

"Why not?"

Adam did not answer. He was not so sure now...

"Adam" Quentin spoke "whatever happens I want to thank you."

"For what?" Adam said curtly "For doing this to you? For forcing on you something you did not want?"

"Yes. I don't know what Carl will do to me, whether he will show mercy when I showed him none. But still, what I learned, what you forced me to learn, that's what matters. I hope that I live to do what I know I can accomplish, but I never knew what I was capable of before."

"I will not let Carl take you." Adam said vehemently."

"If you fail, it will still have been worth it."

They reached Angelique's room. She had already drawn a pattern on the floor. On her instructions, Quentin stepped and stood there. A shiver ran through his body, and not from cold.

"Ask your brother to forgive you." Angelique said.

Quentin nodded, then spoke "Carl" he said. "Carl. I am sorry I should not have done what I did. It was my fault."

Angelique waited until the whine was gone from Quentin's voice. It should be regretful without self-pity. Finally it reached that point.

Carl appeared outside the protective circle

"Well, Quentin, you are back."

"Yes. I am back."

"We made a deal." You and I. Your freedom for your tears. Can I have them?"

Angelique offered the bottle.

"It is not enough." Carl said.

"That is all he can offer. Take it, Carl."

Carl looked at the bottle respectively "Why take it? It is not what I asked for."

"Because they are Quentin's. Because you made him give them to you. Because he could not do it, and this is his confession of failure."

"Yes." the expression in Carl's face altered subtly "He could not do it. How does it feel, Quentin, not to be up to it?"

"I never understood what failure meant before. I failed, Carl."

Quentin was aware of Carl's childishness, could now understand, as he had never done before, where it came from. His need to be considered a grown up, his desire to emulate his older brothers, Specifically, the dashing Quentin, not the dull Edward.

Quentin saw his own childishness reflected in Carl's. He understood Carl. He pitied him. Even liked him, what he had never been able to do before.

He could be a good brother to Carl now, he thought fleetingly. But now it was too late...

"I have failed, Carl And not for the first time. You should not have looked up to me. I was not someone to admire or try to imitate."

"You are nothing." There was glee and strangeness in Carl's voice. He wanted to see his former idol brought down. But he did not want to know that the idol had been flawed in the first place.

"Carl. I wept as much as I could. I sorrowed for what was done to you. Not because it was me who did it, but because it was you who suffered."

Angelique and Adam listened. Adam was nodding, glad to see Quentin hold his own. Glad to see that Quentin had been strengthened, not destroyed by his experience."

Angelique was astonished at the change in Quentin. She knew that it would come once the effect of the portrait was reversed, but she had so grown into the habit of Quentin being an arrested adolescent, unable to learn or profit from experience, that she could not believe what was now taking plaice before her.

Quentin had grown up. And whatever Carl did, would not change that.

"I will take the tears, for now. But they are not enough. I will demand something else, later."

"As you wish, Carl." Quentin said. "you have the right to demand it from me."

Carl took the small bottle. It hung in the air, without any support.

The cap flew open.

"Have his tears, Carl. Have them and know what brought them."

Mist rose from the bottle, and enveloped Carl.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Adam gasped as the mist enveloped Carl completely.

"What is this?" Carl protested. "What are you doing to me?"

"I am giving you what you asked. Quentin's tears, and the knowledge that made them flow."

The mist thickened and Carl could not be seen.

"Learn, Carl." Angelique's voice was soothing. "Learn what Quentin can teach you."

There was a light that flickered where Carl was.

"Carl?" Quentin asked "Carl?"

No answer.

"Have you exorcized him?" Quentin asked Angelique "It will do not good. He will keep coming back."

"Not exorcized."

"What have you done, then?"

"Let him learn from you. From your tears. He's learned what you learned." Angelique turned to Carl. "Do you still want to hurt him? He owes it to you, he feels."

Carl shook his head. "No, no more. He's been hurt enough." he looked straight at Quentin.

Quentin shivered, but held his brothers' gaze.

"Carl" he said. "I am sorry " he wished that he could say more, but the words would not come.

"I know that you are."

"It does not help any." Quentin admitted.

"No. But that does not matter."

They looked at each other. Two brothers.; One had lived too little. One too long. And it had been a waste, all of it.

Angelique coughed.

"You tricked me, didn't you?" Carl asked her.

"Do you regret it?"

"No. I don't"

"Did you ever find Pansy?"

"No. I did not."

"Not after you died?"

"I tried to, but Trask told me that first we had to destroy Barnabas. I followed him. Ruby in the end broke free. And now I have."

"And because of Trask, you could not find Pansy again. She could not reach your. Because you would not let go of your hatred."

Carl nodded. "I realize it now."

"You have to let go of your hatred. You then can find her again."

There was a light next to Carl.

"Pansy?" he asked.

It was her. She extended her arms to him, and he joined her. And they were gone.

* * *

Yolanda wondered if she was any good at this. All she seemed able to do was to play small tricks, influence weak minds, and hope for luck to come her way...

But that would change. As soon as she got the stones that Peter had seen. Because her knowledge was great, she repeated to herself. All she lacked was power.

And the stones held power. Raw power without a guiding mind that would seek to oppose her, or to dominate her. Mindless power waiting for her own mind to give it direction.

But she had to find them. Given what Peter had given her, she could use her own power to find where it was hidden...

And then it would be up to her arms and back to get it out. And no matter how much it hurt to get it out, she would get it. Even if she was exhausted from it, even if every muscle of her ached...

The stones would fix everything afterwards...

But first she had to find them...

* * *

"So you planned it from the start? When you offered Carl to have Quentin's tears?"

"Yes." Angelique told Adam. "It was more than tears that Carl got. It was all that Quentin had learned about himself. It was his growing up at last, his becoming a responsible adult. Carl worshipped Quentin once. He wanted more than anything else to be like him. And now he was finally able to. "

"And Carl's letting Barnabas off the hook too? I imagine that if he can forgive Quentin, he can forgive Barnabas too. After all, it was Quentin who betrayed him... "

"Yes."

"And Quentin will have no reason to kill Barnabas, either... And he can finally leave Collinsport."

"So Carolyn told you about that, too?"

"Yes."

"Do you mind it, about Barnabas being off the hook?"

Adam shrugged "A few months ago I would. No, I don't like him any better now. But hurting him is no longer a priority with me. I have better things to worry about than him. The portrait broke the physical link. And now I can break the link to the portrait too. I can be finally free. Like Quentin" he grimaced "Quentin's not the only one who had to do a lot of growing up all of a sudden."

"I figured that."

There was something touching in Adam. A hint of eagerness, even innocence. Covered by the layers of sophistication and hardness that Charles had given him, but still there. Maybe it now would be allowed to flourish.

"It will come all right for you too, Adam."

* * *

Peter stared out of the window. The game that he had been playing with lay abandoned on his lap. His hand was instead rubbing the window pane.

He waited for the figures to form. Yolanda had taught him how to do this. But Yolanda wanted to see only one thing. There were other things to be seen, much prettier...

Too bad that Yolanda wasn't interested. All she cared was about those jewels in a box.

But there were so many more pretty things.. to see. And she had shown him how...

He rubbed the pane again. He could make it happen...

The drew the figures on the pane. Stick figures, a man and a woman. Then he peered into them.

And then he could see all those other things. Men and women dressed in bright clothes, dancing in a giant room, with giant chandeliers burning over their heads...

And then they vanished...

He rubbed the pane to make them come again, but they did not...

* * *

He had to talk Carolyn into it. Her insistence of Vicky's coming back had more to do with her wounded pride and guilty conscience, than with worry about Edmund's education.

He petted the cat a bit more, accepting his calming purr, and thinking again what he had to do. He wondered why he had never named the cats, calling them the grey one, the red one, the calico, the tuxedo... Not that it mattered. They came to him anyay... And they helped him think...

He could understand why Carolyn wanted Vicky back, to mend a relationship of many years that had come apart at the seams. But Vicky would not come back. And more importantly, Vicky was not the best teacher for Edmund.

Vicky's teaching credentials were obsolete. So was a great deal of the knowledge that she had to impart. There were changes in the curriculum and methodologies that she had to learn all over again. While in Collinsport there were new teaching graduates, looking for a post, that would be glad to work for Carolyn.

But not live in Collinsport. This business with Liz and her preying on children had reawakened the animosity between the Collins family and the town. And since he was in a good relationship with Carolyn, then they muttered about him that "in the end, he is a Collins too."

Well, maybe he could work something up.

But that would be for later. First he had to take Nunez back to Wyncliffe...

Regretfully, he let the gray cat go, and went down to the cell.

Nunez protested, saying that he had been promised more time.

"I only promised you five days and you had them."

"But I want more!"

"You can't have it. We have to report for work, you and I."

"Please, just a few more days. I just got into the habit of talking again. I don't want to forget it again!"

"Nunez, I said five days, and you got five days. Be grateful that you had them. I can't extend your furlough."

"Just a couple more days, please." Nunez tried by twisting his arm to escape the iron grip that held him.

"Captain Nunez, don't make me tie you up. I will only make you sore. I promised you five days, and that's what you got."

"It is so little time."

"It is more than your victims usually get."

Nunez stopped struggling. "You always come back to that. Why do you care for them, anyway? Just because you believed that crazy whore. She was not worth it. She got what she deserved and..

This was too much for Barnabas. He slapped Nunez.

He took him to the cave, with Nunez not resisting.

But when Barnabas was about to start he spoke again. "A whore, a dumb whore. A dumb Jewish whore. I am glad that I killed her children. I should have killed her too."

Barnabas hit him, and this time Nunez fell down.

He grabbed the two pieces of wood he had seen on the ground and made them into a cross, holing it in front of Barnabas.

"What?" Barnabas was surprised.

Nunez got up... "I am getting away from here and you can't stop me. Get out of my way_!"_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Amy hugged Oriana "I am so glad you came here."

"I... I am glad to see you, Amy" Oriana was still a bit shaky, but now she had begun to accept her condition and make the most of it.

She was a werewolf. A werewolf. Like Chris. Like Tom. No way around it. She knew how to keep it under control, knew what then penalty for failure to do so was.

"She is still in shock" Chris explained to Amy "so don't press for details"

Amy nodded and made tea for the three of them. She would get an account later, from Chris, on what him and Oriana had undergone. And whether or not there was still danger...

* * *

Roger stared out of the window. The melting snow announced the coming of the spring, but there was little willingness in him to welcome it.

Liz was dead. he would never see her again. All that he wanted to share with her, all that he had hoped to recapture... half his life was gone with Liz.

If any of his marriages had lasted... If he and David had been closer...

Yes, he had Edmund and was glad for him. Yet it was not the same. Or maybe he wanted David and Edmund both.

And he had failed Liz. He had failed when he had done nothing to protect her from Paul Stoddard. He had failed to give her the emotional support she needed, often adding his own problems instead.

The misery of those years that he had spent drinking, hiding from Burke Devil's revenge... how he had become so wrapped up in his own misery letting Liz shoulder alone the responsibility of raising David and Carolyn. As if Liz did not have enough misery of her own.

When Liz had needed him he had been hiding behind his brandy. And now, this one last chance he had had to help Liz, he had failed again.

Barnabas had killed her. He had come, in the middle of the night, pushed him aside when he tried to protest, entered Liz's room and shot her.

He wanted to punish him for that, so badly. He had done so much harm already.

But Barnabas was away. And he had done only what Liz had asked. What _he_ should have done instead for his own sister.

* * *

"Peter, what do you see?' Yolanda urged the child.

"Fire... I see fire."

"Anything else?"

Peter seemed to concentrate "It is a strange sort of fire. It is white. And seems kind of... frozen. But it is fire. It can burn like fire. And it seems to be trapped in a box."

"What's the box like?' Yolanda could barely hide her excitement. That box must be the one object she needed to get back the power that she had lost.

"It is a box." Peter's voice was peeved. What's a box supposed to look like except a box? Adults ask the funniest questions.

"A long box? A small one? Does it have anything on it? Of what is it made? Of what color?"

Could this be the Leviathan box? The one in which Barnabas had brought the Leviathan egg? She hoped it was not. She did not want to deal with Leviathans. The memory of how Nicholas Blair had once enslaved her was a good warning. She did this alone, not looking for any allies who might betray her.

"Do you see anything that looks like a snake on the box?

Peter shook his head "No, nothing on the box. It is a metallic box. It has some kind of writing."

Good, one less thing to worry about...

There was another box... the box where Laura had been confined to by Barnabas. She had heard about her... and fire.. wasn't that what Peter had said?

Did she wish to deal with Laura, then? She would be hungry when released. Would she consume her deliverer and allow her to rise a salamander?

No, she would _not_ become a salamander, at Laura's beck and call.

Yet, if this box was something else... if there was any way of knowing what Laura's box was like...

She could not stay here like this, her powers pitifully small. The most that she could accomplish was her control of Peter. And Liz, yes. She had controlled a vampire... only it was such a pitifully weak vampire that it almost did not count. And she had done noting with Liz, really. Just tested her powers and gathered some roots for potions... As a slave, the pain-wrecked Liz was worse than useless.

She would have to find out somehow about the box.

* * *

Hallie looked at her reflection. There was nothing in her that betrayed what she really was. She had walked into the fire of her stove and had been reborn a phoenix. Nobody had known of it. No one suspected that she was not what she pretended to be.

On an impulse, she made flames surge from her fingertips. Yes, she _could_ do it.

Inwardly she felt the reproof that Ra gave her. She had not yet earned her place. She had no slaves to command. She had offered no sacrifices. There was no child born of her body to be given to the fire.

She needed children, yes. And she needed to offer sacrifices to Ra if she was to take Laura's place.

* * *

The snake hissed on top of the stairs.

Quentin froze. It was another dream..

No, it was not. This was reality. No point in pretending doubt.. No point in comforting fictions that proved false in the end...

All he had to do was open his eyes and the snake would be gone...

He should be able this time to escape the pain. Pull his eyelids open. Make an effort to see the sheets in his bed. He could do it...

Only that he could not.

The serpent hissed again, angrily. It was getting impatient.

Just a dream... it was just a dream. Carl had no power outside the dreams.

How could Carl hate him so much?

Carl had told him why...

How could it be stopped? Not by arguments, not by pleading. Any more than Carl's pleadings had saved his life...

He could almost see the snake's eyes. He heard it move and knew that it was ready to strike again. Not in a dream, no. For real.

It could not kill him. His portrait would see to that. But the pain... and this time the pain would not go away quickly as soon as he woke up. No, it would fester for hours...

Then the serpent struck.

* * *

"It gets to you, doesn't it?" Cecily asked him.

"What Amber told me, yes. At least I took her out of it. She has a family who is desperate to get her back. " Barnabas remembered the girl, barely a child that he had picked up, as if he was a client. "she will get back to them, and get her life back."

"A good trade for the blood you took from her, isn't it? You got fed once, and she has her whole life ahead of her. "

"Yes."

"You got the information from her? Who her pimp was?"

"Yes. And how many girls he has, and how he controls them."

"Good. Then you will not get squeamish. when we work him over and train him as a caretaker. As for the other girls, the ones whose families won't take them back, there are places that will help them. Everybody wins."

"Do you like catching pimps?" Barnabas asked, curious.

"It is one of my joys in life. Getting even with creeps that use kids for sex. Like the one who attacked me."

"What happened to him?"

"I killed him."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Here" she said to him

Nunez put his shoulder to the stone and pushed. The rock moved a bit.

"Harder."

Nunez pushed more, the strain showing in his face.

She chanted more of the spell that would mask his pain so that he would give all his strength to the task. Whatever happened to him afterwards was no concern of hers. Let Angelique tend to him, if she would.

She put her own shoulder to the stone. Nunez would not hold up for much longer, so the stone had to be moved now. she would not restore his strength, only use it up.

They strained at it together, and then the rock gave way. It rolled off, and then there was a hole in the ground in which some glitter could be seen.

Nunez collapsed while Yolanda dug out the box with her bare hands. There were now only smaller stones that she could dislodge easily. She broke her nails digging it out, but then her fingers closed on it, and she brought it out of the ground.

It was a small box, just as Peter had described it. Some of the glitter was gone due to the dirt covering it, but that did not matter. Caked with dust as it was, she could still see that it was beautiful. And more important, she felt refreshed and full of strength just by touching it.

She realized that she could not leave her helper here. If Angelique were to look for him, she would also find the evidence of digging an she may start looking into it.

She put one hand on Nunez's shoulder, telling him to get up.

"Put the rock back." she ordered him.

Nunez did so.

"Let's go now."

She led him to the spot where she had found him. When Angelique looked for him, she would find him where she had left him.

And weak as he was, he would soon die of exposure and exhaustion. Yet it would not hurt to make sure.

He looked at her hopefully. She had promised him help, hadn't she?

She put her hand to his forehead "Sleep now." she ordered him. "and forget what you have seen and done."

He curled up again on the ground, just as he had been when she had found him. She left, without turning back.

* * *

The caves again. Barnabas thought that by now he should have gotten the habitude to search there first. But then, it was such a maze, that it helped to have some idea where to look before you went in. Not to mention how often they got flooded, so that no one with a working brain would consider hiding there. You didn't go to the caves unless you were desperate. Or a tourist.

This cave was no better than the others. The last high tide had left pools in spots and the ground was slippery. He felt guilt remembering that Nunez was wearing only a hospital gown and sandals for protection. He might sell die of cold there.

They found him, a slight bundle among the rocks, shaking and moaning in pain. for a moment Barnabas thought that Nunez' victims would have loved to see him like this, but only for a moment. Nunez was hurting, and it was his fault.

He was in mid-change. The bones were elongated and pulled at the muscles. Fur appeared in patches on him. He cursed himself for not explaining to Nunez than the five day furlough did not depend on his will, but that it was the nature of the spell he used...

He took Nunez's pulse. Thready, weak... But still alive.

"We better finish the change" he told Angelique.

Angelique shook his head. "He is so weak that the change might kill him. I can arrest the change, and let him rebuilt his strength. And ease off the pain."

"How long will it take before he is well again?"

"It is difficult to tell. He seems exhausted. Give him at least one week, or ten days. And he needs more care than you can give him. You should take him to Wyncliffe, they have the facilities there, and it will be safe for you."

Barnabas nodded. She was right. it also meant that he had to tell Julia about it. "Help me carry him." he said.

They took him to the Old House, where they gave him a hot bath to raise his temperature, and some food.

"No way that I can turn him to a dog before I take him to Wyncliffe?"

"Not unless you want to kill him."

* * *

Yolanda had finished cleaning the box. The dust, once removed, had revealed the box in all its beauty and wealth.

The design on the lid was well-crafted, simple, yet powerful. And the small gems incrusted in it added even more it its beauty.

But those were not decorative scribbles in the design. Those were runes who spoke of the secrets inside it.

He wished that she was able to read them. Anyway, she had an idea of what they meant. She could feel the power flowing from it well enough.

She found the catch. She did note expect the box to open easily, but it did.

She gasped. They were real stones. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires. and SO big. They were real. They would not bury colored glass with such care. She touched them, but was a bit afraid that they might crumble if she did.

They did not vanish. Instead they seemed to grow more bright at her touch.

They were priceless. But their value was not counted in money. Their value was in the power they held.

* * *

Julia managed to listen to all of Barnabas' explanations without screaming her head off.

"You mean that the dog, Comet, was actually Nunez?"

"Yes. I know that I was abusing my position, to involve you in it.."

"No, you don't know a thing!" she shouted at last. "You dared bring in a Nazi under my roof!"

Barnabas stared not understanding what she had just said.

"Don't you know anything about me?"

Barnabas stared at her again.

"Don't you know that all my family was killed in Europe? That only my cousin and I survived? Don't you know that I had friends in South America, where many Nazis went to open up shop when they had to get out of Europe, doing the local dictators' dirty work? Don't you now how many of them lost at least one member of their family at their hands, and I had to read about it, and complain to my Congressman, for all the good it did? And you still dared bring in a Nazi under my roof.!"

"He was earning his keep."

"No way. I don't want him here at all. If he shows up, I'll sell him to a laboratory."

"Julia..."

"I should not be surprised by anything you do, but this one takes the cake. how could you have dared?"

"I did not bring in a Nazi. I brought a working dog. And agree that he did his job. Melanie responds to him, and you know how little she responds to anything else."

Julia grumbled.

"Julia, he's not getting away with anything. Sure, as a human being he was a disaster. But he's not a human being. He's a dog, and, as dogs go, quite a decent one."

Julia grumbled again.

"For Melanie's sake. She's a patient. And you are too good a doctor to allow your personal feelings to interfere with your duty."

Julia frowned. "Are you trying to butter me up?"

"Julia, Nunez is not getting any free ride. Do you think that I would give him one after Norma died in my arms? We al felt bad. We wanted Nunez to pay for it. And I found a way. He is paying, Julia. There is no need for you to add to it."

Julia looked down, not trusting herself to speak.

Barnabas had some idea of why she reacted this way. He tested it.

"Does it have anything with your cousin? The other one who escaped? Was he your first love?"

Julia went white. She stared at him, too angry to speak.

Foolhardily, Barnabas went on.

"I asked you once if Dave had been your first love. You said that there had been someone else, and that I did not know him."

Julia managed to nod. "No, you never knew Richard."

"His name was Richard, then..."

"Richard Zimmerman. My cousin. All the family I have left."

"Is he still alive?"

"I don't know" her hands tightened. "I haven 't heard from him in years. He did odd job for the Mossad - Israeli Intelligence. Whether he is still in one piece or not... He cut me off to protect me. I was in college, then." her eyes began to form tears. but she seemed to pay no attention to it. "I expected him to write, to call me at least once. But he did not. He came to the campus, talked to me, explained why he would go away and never come back. But I did not truly believe him. I should have."

Barnabas put his hand on Julia's shoulder. "You still miss him?"

"Why do you think I tried to help you when I found out about you?"

"What do you mean, Julia?"

"How do you think I knew so much about vampires, then?"

"Richard is..."

"Richard is a vampire."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Quentin shook the bars, screaming. They were strong and they would not give in. He picked a couple of stones and began battering at them.

"Let me out! You can't keep me in here!"

Finally he gave up. He sat down on the ground and began to sob. He wondered if this was what Carl had felt when locked in the secret room, waiting for Barnabas to rise.

But this was worse... the taunting, the cat and mouse game. He had never done anything like this..

It was then that he heard the footsteps approaching.

He shouted, trying to attract whoever was there.

It was Adam Deale Atwater.

"Please, let me out" he begged Adam. "I got myself locked in and..."

Adam looked at him mockingly "And why should I release you after all the trouble I went to get you here?"

* * *

Yolanda laid the instruments of her craft before her. It as a pity that she had not a teacher to guide her, that she had to learn it all by herself. If only... no, no use hoping for the impossible. At last she had some memory of what Zachary had taught her.

She just had to do with what she had. Don't give in to the temptation to ask for help. She knew better than to trust Nicholas Blair by now. As for Angelique, forget it. She might be gracious enough to accept an explanation of possession, but she was not so stupid as to teach anything from her craft to Yolanda.

And she was right in distrusting her, for Yolanda was the legitimate heir of her uncle, Schuyller Rumsen, not Angelique, the bigamist.

It had to be that box. If it was not Laura's. If it was not a living entity that would devour her them moment that it was set free, she'd go looking for it.

First she chanted the spell to make Iris fall into a deep sleep, then brought Peter with her.

"What are we doing?" Peter asked.

"You are sleeping, Peter." she put her hand over Peter's eyes and they closed "You are dreaming this. You will wake up and not remember any of this."

She undressed Peter and anointed him. She did the same for herself. she drew a five pointed star on the floor and made Peter sit in the middle of it.

She stood over Peter, her hands to his temples.

"Now, Peter, remember the box you saw the other day? Think of it. We are going to look for it. You are going to guide me in my way till we know what is inside.

They floated together in the air. Yolanda began to focus her eyes, to see what Peter was seeing.

She saw the box. It was metallic, yes. Seemingly plain. But if you looked hard you could see that what looked like scratches were instead a kind of writing.

They were now in a giant library. Yellowed parchment rose in front of them. They unrolled themselves and allowed themselves to be read.

It was not Laura inside the box. Not a living entity. There were jewels in it. Jewels that had power of their own.

They glided back into the room. Yolanda shook herself. She was back. She had done it. She had found a source of power.

She helped Peter up, dressed him and led him out. He would not remember the experience, and if he did, he would think of it as a dream.

* * *

"You see, Mr. Collins" Adam explained. "we do share the same problem. Charles Delaware Tate painted both our portraits. You have seen the effect it has on you and what the hidden costs are. It robs you of the chance to grow, to evolve, to become something better than what you already are. Charles allowed for change in my case. He knew that I would need guile to survive, so he painted it in. He knew that my scars had to be removed, so he painted them out. I was allowed to develop, but only in the direction that was mapped for me. You did not even have that." he became thoughtful "Charles knew what he had done to you and regretted it. He would not paint another portrait. He painted mine only because he could not help me otherwise. He wished that there was another way. And maybe I have found the other way."

He set down an easel, the put Quentin's portrait on it. He had stolen it form Collinwood with Angelique's help.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"I want to reverse Charles' process until we are both free. Unhappily I can't have myself as a guinea pig, because I can paint out my ability to paint. It has to be you. Calm down, Mr. Collins." he said as Quentin began pounding at the bars. "Just sit down and hope for the best. If this thing works I will release you. It is in your advantage that I succeed, after all."

"You can't keep me here, They'll miss me."

"They'll think that you skipped town. You had reason to. Decided that you could not take your marriage any more. And who would blame you?"

That stung Quentin. It shouldn't. But he could not stand the idea of people knowing the terms of his marriage.

"Mr. Collins, I do not wish you ill." Adam's tone was conciliatory. "I am solving a problem we both have. If I succeed, you will have another chance in life."

* * *

The sign attracted Hallie's attention. Madame Zalisky, palm reader, card reader. Five dollars. Hallie smiled pityingly. Amateur at best. Or just a fake, a hustler.

But Madame Zalisky could be of use, indeed. If one knew how to go about it.

She entered the shop and was greeted by a dark haired, dark skinned young woman.

Halle sized her. Some residual power here, not much.

The woman laid down the cards for her. She interpreted them. Hallie tried not to laugh. She had gotten it all wrong. Still that tale of broken hearts and troubles at work would be recognized by many as true. She was playing the percentages. Then people would begin to volunteer information so that Madame Zalisky could indeed be very accurate in describing her client's predicament.

"Somebody put a curse on you. Somebody who works with you. It is a woman who wishes you ill."

And after that, the client would ask if the curse could be removed. It could. For a price.

"Not bad, Madame Zalisky" she said. "too bad that you had to run into the real thing."

Madame Zalisky looked at her with surprise. What had she meant by that? Then she felt her wrist being caught in Hallie's grip and she felt her body move, without her willing it, until she was face to face with Hallie, looking at her in the eyes.

Hallie's eyes...

She tried to fight it, to run away, but she was paralyzed. She saw the fire rise and envelop Hallie's face, then subside again.

"Yes. Madame Zalisky. You ran into the real thing."

She tried to move her tongue, to make any kind of sound.

"No, Madame Zalisky, it is useless. You can't resist."

Halle's hand rested on her temple. A bolt of pain transfixed her.

"No. I will not sacrifice you. You will be useful to me in other ways. You will obey me, Madame Zalisky. What is your first name?"

"Zo... Zoya." she managed to say.

"Well, Zoya Zalisky. You serve a phoenix now."

* * *

Urien was there, waiting for him.

"How was your trip?" he asked, a bit sourly.

"Not bad."

"Was it interesting?"

"Very. A bit depressing. All those children... It is fascinating. And saddening."

"I wish I could have seen it."

"No. You would not have liked it at all. It would have been very dangerous for you, since they are still learning self-control But I can understand your missing me."

Urien looked down. "I am not complaining."

"No. You have the right. I have made myself responsible for you then I ran out on a completely different project. I ran out on practically everybody. Once I was there I seemed to forget all about Collinsport and the people here. I even forgot about Vicky's baby, which is due soon. I am sorry, Urien. I am not perfect. I do get fired up all of a sudden about something new, then I forget that other people exist and that I have made commitments to them. I have to learn to do better."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"So Nunez is in Wyncliffe now."

"Yes. When he gets better I will get him back on all fours."

"So it is back to normal, then." George said.

"Yes." Barnabas paused "But I wanted to talk to you about something else."

"What about?"

"Urien."

"What about him?"

"Soon he will have to decide about his future. He may well want to go to college."

"Yes. He might well. What is his problem? Tuition? His not doing well on the S.A.T.?"

"No, it is that I am not sure whether I really want him to go."

"You really want him to stay in Collinsport, just taking care of the Old House? You know that's no life for him. It was not for Willie."

"I don't know how he will take to living unsupervised for so long. Remember about David?"

George thought about it. "You are right." he said soberly "He might go back to hustling, just to have some extra pocket money. There is a lot of pressure in college, and not enough supervision. Most of the kids manage all right, but Urien is not most of the kids. He's keeping out of trouble here, when you and I can watch him and where you can bite him if you think he needs it. On his own, it would be another story."

"Still, he can't stay here forever. There is little here in the way of future, specially without an education."

"He could become a fisherman. Or go to work at the cannery. Or find work at the Davenport Center. There is plenty for him if he wants to."

"Yes. He can make a living. But I think that he wants more. He has become an avid reader. He wants to know all there is to know. He wants to use his brain. And he is bright."

"He could still be a fisherman. It is good work, and he could read and take courses in his spare time. Not everybody needs a college education."

"Still, I would like him to know more of the world. I'd like him to know more of what's there before he makes a decision. And I thought of something else."

"Of what?"

"That you need a vacation."

George stared at Barnabas, not sure if he had heard well."

"When was the last time you took a vacation?"

"I don't need one."

"You do."

"I am needed here."

Barnabas laughed. "You are not indispensable."

"My job carries a lot of responsibility."

'You sound just like Julia, convinced that Wyncliffe would collapse into rubble if she's not there to see to everything. George, you are taking a vacation, and taking Urien with you."

"Urien?"

"I want him to see more of the world. It is not easy for me to take him anywhere, but you can, starting now. And some vacations are real cheap. It would be good for him, and for you too. Take him to Florida. I asked and they have some real cheap fares. Take him to Orlando, to see the Space Center."

"To see Disney World, you mean." George growled "I am too old for glorified amusement parks. And much will it help Urien."

"It will be a start. You need a vacation. Urien needs a break in his routine and time to think. And he needs to establish a relationship with you."

George stared at Barnabas "What do you mean by that?"

"That I am tried of being all the parents to Urien. That I expect you to do your part in raising him."

"But..."

"I am tired of you forgetting that he exists."

"It is not that."

"Legally I am the father. I am not sure what that makes you, either the mother, the other father, or just Uncle George. But you are part of it. I want you to start doing your share."

"I tried to get close to him once, quite close. I tried to rape him."

"Well, it is time that you put that behind, the two of you. Don't give up. Don't use his distrust of you as an excuse. And you could start by taking him on a vacation."

"But I can't leave like that."

Barnabas laughed. "Are you afraid of finding how easily the office can be run without you?"

* * *

Nunez lied in bed. The pain had eased somehow, and he was comfortable. He also knew that his escape had failed, and that his body would not respond if he tried to escape again.

He saw the walls of his cell. A padded cell. They were taking no more chances with him.

And soon they would take him to the caves and put him on a leash.

But they would not break him down.

They could imprison him, drug him, force the dog form on him. But not break him.

He would show them what stuff an officer of the Argentine Army was made of.

The key turned in the lock. Nunez stiffened up, wondering who came to see him.

Julia entered the cell "How are you doing?" she asked him, coldly.

He did not answer. Just stared at her, defiantly.

"You don't want to talk?" she spoke with mock sweetness. "You can trust me."

He still did not speak.

She sat down by his side. "Nunez, you are not cooperating. You should cooperate, for you own good.."

"That's Captain Nunez.."

"All right, Captain Nunez, you are not cooperating."

"What do you want from me?"

Julia smiled a lopsided grin. "I want you to tell me what you feel."

"What do you think I feel? What do you think I should feel?" Nunez shouted. He was too angry now to be careful of what he said..

"Do you feel that you are being unjustly persecuted?"

"And you don't agree that I am?"

"I am interested in your reactions."

"And why should you be?"

"I am the doctor... your doctor."

"And you think that I am crazy, right? That I am imagining things.

"I don't think that you are imagining anything."

"So you believe that I was turned into a dog?"

"Yes."

"And that Barnabas Collins is a vampire?"

"I know that for a fact."

"And you agree with that?"

"He told me what he had done to you and why."

"And you approve?"

She grimaced. "If what I heard of you is true, then I think that he was too lenient with you."

He looked at her with hatred. "Of course, your name is Hoffman. You are a Jewess."

"I am Jewish, yes. Also the director of this institution. You should try to get on my good side, if you know what is good for you."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Yes. And I can easily carry out my threats."

"Do your worst!" Nunez shouted :You Jewish bitch!"

Julia grinned. "Don't tempt me. It is far easier than you can imagine."

And before she gave in to temptation, she got up and left the cell.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"You really want me to go on that vacation?"

"I do. And you know why." Barnabas caught George by the shoulders.

George looked at him. "You would not bite me, would you? Not to make me go."

"Try me."

George shook his head. "Well, this takes the cake."

"You need a vacation. You have to take Urien."

"I told you that I can't. I am busy..."

"Your deputies can handle the workload."

"Something could happen. Something that you would need me to solve."

"Sure, there could be a nuclear explosion while you are away."

"Which may well happen. Worse things have been known to happen here. And without me to keep an eye..."

"Come on, is it so terrible if you go see the Space Center?"

"And meet Goofy too?"

"Why not?"

"It... it is not dignified. I have to think of the dignity of my office, of my uniform."

"George." Barnabas held him more tightly "You are forcing me into this."

He bit into him. George would protest, but would thank him later.

He let him go. "You are going to Florida.:"

George nodded reluctantly "I'll get you for this."

"And you are not taking any paperwork with you. And you are not badgering your deputies by phone, trying to run your office from Florida. You just go and have a good time. Understood?"

* * *

Julia paced the floor, the lab report in her hand...

A change of life baby... Why, the risks involved... and she was too old to care for it properly, and...

A baby. Her own baby. She had accepted for so long that she would have none, and now...

Her own baby... Her own child.

She, Julia Hoffman Anderson was going to be a mother...

Did she want a child?

Yes, she did want it...

No, she did not want it...

No... The older you were, the more likely to have Down's syndrome or other such defect. The odds were against her...

Yes. She was the only one of her family left, unless Richard was still alive. Richard could not have children. If she did not have this child, the line died with her... The entire family died with her, and Hitler claimed another victory...

"Thou shalt not grant Hitler posthumous victories." so ran the Eleventh Commandment.

But the risks...

If Richard was here, she knew what he'd say.

The risks were great, but not overwhelming. Many change of life babies grew up to be healthy, Look at Amy Carter. Look at Barnabas' own sister, Sarah...

She had to chance it, in case Richard did come after all. He would not like to know that she had refused to continue the line...

A mother, at her age... There were certainly challenges ahead, for her and for Kenneth...

But since when was she afraid of challenges?

She had treated and tamed an out of control vampire. She had traveled through time. She had traveled to an alternate reality. She had faced werewolves, witches, warlocks. She had built an artificial man...

And now a baby scared her? She was made of sterner stuff than that...

Yet she was afraid...

* * *

Nunez opened his eyes. Barnabas was about to spoon-feed him. He tried to protest this, turning his face away.

"Come on, you have to eat" Barnabas insisted "you need to rebuilt your strength."

"So that you can turn me into a dog again?"

"Not now. You are too weak, It might kill you to do it. But yes, you have to go back to running on all fours, and putting in time as an animal therapist."

"Why not just kill me? According to you, I am only getting what I deserve. Go ahead, satisfy your sense of justice by my death."

"Because I don't want it to end this way. I want you to recover and live a full life."

:"As a dog, of course."

"As a human being, when you earn it."

Nunez looked at him with hatred "Earn it! That's what you always promise me? And who made you a judge of what a human being is? You certainly aren't one. No, you just want to play your sanctimonious games with me. How much will I have to put up before you release me?"

"You are getting there."

"You always say that." Nunez sat up and pointed his finger at Barnabas "that's all I get from you. Empty promises."

"All right. I'll tell you how far you have gone. George gave me his opinion. When you spoke of your work here he was furious because I would not let you go. For him you were ready."

"And?"

"And then you could not stop saying what you thought. You started talking about what you used to do back home. And with pride, boasting of it. With that you hung yourself. George hated you then. He said that I had been right to do what I did, but maybe I was too lenient. That maybe I should just shoot you and relieve the world of your presence."

"He didn't!"

"Yes, he did. You have a long way to go, still, Nunez. You are capable of warmth and compassion. but you believe that they apply only to certain people."

"And what's wrong with that? You want me to feel warmly towards subversives? "

"That's exactly what I want you to do."

* * *

Yolanda's palm had blackened and it felt numb...

She knew the burn.. She had handled one of the jewels, and it had burned her. She stared at it, wondering if the stone had, indeed, been capable of this.

She knew that it was powerful. But did she know where the power came from?

They were powerful, very powerful.

And dangerous, she realized. There was a reason why they had been buried under such heavy rocks. Very likely the original owners had been afraid of what the price would be for handling them...

How did they feed? Did they take her blood, or just her energy? She suspected than in either case it would not be long before she died... The stones were alive. Alive, and hungry, and greedy.

Yet, if she could tame them...

She realized that they thought had not arisen out of itself. That someone was whispering it to her.

"Yes." the voice seemed to say. "you heard us. We can communicate with you."

"Who... what are you?"

"We can communicate with you. We need each other. You want power and we want food."

"I will not feed you!" she shouted in horror "You'll kill me!"

"It need not be you."

She looked, with fear, at her hand again. What would happen to her?"

She felt trapped. Just as when Nicholas Blair had trapped her.

"It need not be that way."

But it would be that way. She knew it."

Why couldn't she have left Collinsport when she had had the chance? Why could she not accept Megan Graham's advice and make a life for herself, using the trust fund set for her education? Why had she failed to learn from her experience with Nicholas?

Yet some part of her insisted that it was worth it. That there was a way around it, as they had been away around Nicholas' trap.

It need to be her the source of food for the stones. She would only have to provide them with victims...

And this way she would have the power and avoid the dangers. What would she do with all that power? The possibilities were endless. As they had been with Judah...

The risks were great. The rewards were greater still. And she might yet get revenge on Angelique...


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"You are not coming?" Urien asked.

"No. I can't And then I would have little to do. Disney World closes at dusk."

Urien made a face.

"Come on, you'll have fun, the two of you. And George isn't so bad."

Urien made a face again.

"You can't forgive him, then?"

Urien's face reddened. "I do. After all, he helped me and..."

"Let's say that you are not fully sure that you can trust him."

This time Urien did not try to deny it.

"It was quite frightening when he had you in the cell, wasn't it?"

"It was."

"But he stopped himself. That's what matters. That he regained his senses. You can understand that? And you know why he lost control?"

He told of it, as Urien's eyes widened in surprise.

"You see, he was very hurt. And he took it out on you. He had no right to, and he recognizes it."

"Could it happen again?"

"Not very likely."

"But not impossible."

"Nothing is impossible. It is not impossible for water to freeze at 90 degrees. Just very unlikely."

Urien shook his head.

"Urien, George wants to be your friend. Why won't you give him a chance? And then, should anything happen to me, he would be responsible for you."

Urien sighed, then attempted a grin. "All right. I'll give it a try."

"Good." he looked around. "I asked Buffy to come feed the cats when I am in Wyncliffe. She will do it, and not charge me anything, since she enjoys playing with them."

"So my last excuse not to go is gone?"

"Yes."

George was ready when they stopped at his place. Grumbling, but ready. All that remained was take them to the airport.

Barnabas was uncomfortable at the sight of planes. Modern technology still intimidated him.. There were those who suspected him for Burke's fatal accident. He would have murdered Burke yes, but not by tampering with then plane, not by having anything to do with a modern machine that scared him more than he cared to admit...

But that was in the past, and he was learning to be more comfortable with those contraptions...As long as he looked at them from the outside...

"Take care of George" he told Urien. "Make sure he has fun. See that he does not try to do paperwork when you are not watching. Don't let him forget that he is on vacation."

George growled.

"I will try" Urien said solemnly.

"And have fun. Go to Disney World."

"I am not going to Disney World" George grumbled. "A man in my position does not go around taking his photo with Donald Duck."

"Why not?"

"It is not done."

"All right. But there are other things that you might want to see."

"Yes. There is the Space Center. And there is Sea World."

"So, stop grumbling and get in the plane before it takes off without you."

* * *

"I did see that thing, didn't' I?" Xavier insisted. "We both saw it."

"Yes. We did, darling." Sandy was a bit tired of having to talk about the same subject again and again. There were problems with the Center that had to be attended to, but Xavier did not seem to be able to concentrate on them.

"So why tell me to forget it? You really think that I imagined it? That you imagined it?"

"What I am saying is that these problems can't wait, and the U.F.O. can. We are not making as much money as we were doing, and we need to decide what expenses to cut. We don't want to end the month in the red."

"Yes... Of course. But it gets me how we never can prove it. It will show up when we least expect it. And when we are not carrying cameras, and when we are all alone except ourselves... I wonder if they know about us, and are playing with us."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I have this beautiful camera, which can take photos in darkness. I have been carrying it for a long time, and nothing. Then one day I forget it home, and that's the day when the U.F.O. shows up."

"But how could it have known?"

"I am wondering about it."

* * *

Barnabas stared at Julia.

"You mean it? " he said. "Are you really pregnant?"

"I can show you the lab report, if you do not believe it."

"It is so... unexpected..."

"Come on, not so unexpected. I am a woman, after all."

"Yes... but..."

"But you thought that you would remain an only child forever." she chided him.

He nodded, sheepishly. In the end that was the relationship he and Julia had. Mother and son, of sorts...

"Have you thought about the risks, at your age?"

"I know them a lot better than you. But I know that there is no reason for it not to be a perfectly healthy baby. After all, you sister Sarah was a healthy, bright child."

'Yes." Barnabas acknowledged. "Sarah was all that. And I was quite grown when Mother got pregnant again. There was talk about it then, And I did hear quite a bit of it... But it turned out OK."

"And this means that my family does not end with me. That the Hoffmans will go on, in spite of Hitler."

* * *

Yolanda held the large diamond in her hand. She knew the risks involved, but she wanted to try on the stones' power. Just once. Then she'd start looking for ways of keeping the stones fed.

She wondered about the man in the caves, the one who had unwittingly helped her. Had he died? Had he finally transformed into an animal?

It would not hurt to make sure. With the stone in his hand, feeding off her, she willed herself to see the man, where he might be now.

She saw him then.

Not dead. Not transformed into some sort of animal. Alive, and looking better. He seemed to be in a hospital of sorts, and someone was tending to him...

She stared numbly. How long has it been that way? Had he told anything about what had happened in the cave? She had not commanded him to forget, only to sleep... Maybe he was too weak that he hallucinated, and thought of his experience as another hallucination...

Angelique had not come looking for her yet. That meant something. Maybe they had not been too curious. He had escaped and been recaptured near death. They might not be too curious as to what happened in between.

But they might get curious. Either Barnabas or Angelique could make him remember if they wanted him to... If anything gave them reason to suspect that there was more to his escape...

Her hand was beginning to hurt. Soon she would have to let go of the stone.

But not before she fixed this.

She tried to sense the feelings in that scene. The man - she found that his name was Nunez " was weak and a bit disoriented. And angry. And defiant.

There was anger nearby... Barnabas... not much on him, but there.

Then raw hatred. Simmering. In the background. But could be made to erupt... And it was directed against Nunez...

And the hatred belonged to Julia Hoffman Anderson.

Now she had to stoke that hatred to red hot fury...


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Shamu, the killer whale jumped into the tank. Urien watched it with drawn breath. The animal was so huge. And just played like a puppy...

"Quite good, isn't it?" George commented.

"Yes. It is."

They watched more of the performance, laughing when they found out why the first rows were called the Splash Zone.

"Well, what did you think of it? George asked as they had lunch at one of the shops. Behind them they could hear a radio. Not loud, just familiar sound.

"I never seen anything like this before. I didn't know that whales could be so BIG."

"Much better than Disney World?"

Urien was reluctant to admit it, but it was true. Dazzling as Disney World was, it was make believe. This was real. It was fun to see the mechanical crocodile at the Jungle Cruise, but the real alligators by the roadside were the real thing. If you were not careful with them, you were lunch...

"We can go see the Science Center and Gatorland. After the Space Center.. I do want to see those. And I think that you'll find them fun.. As much fun as this."

"Gatorland sounds cool."

"And in the science center they let you play with the exhibits."

Urien's eyes gleamed, and George had to admit it. Barnabas had been right. The trip was good for Urien and was good for him too. Urien was suddenly discovering new words and could not get enough of them.

The music took a familiar tune as a man got up from a table nearby, looking at the two of them with curiosity.

"What's the matter with him?" Urien pointed at him.

"Once upon a time there was a tavern/ where we used to drink a glass or two."

"Urien, you know that it is impolite to point." But at the same time followed the man with his eyes.

He stared. George Patterson of all people! The man whose job he now held!

George Patterson approached him, "You have grown, boy."

George grinned back "And you haven't changed a bit."

Patterson shook his head. "No, I am not what I used to be. I am old. I am retired. But still alert. You better watch your step with me, boy."

George grinned again. "I will."

Twelve, thirteen years ago, the booming voice would have been for real, and he would have cringed before it. And maybe there was still a bit of that?

"So what are you doing with yourself, boy? Got yourself a steady job?"

"As a matter of fact, I have." George blushed. "I am now the sheriff of Collinsport."

Patterson stared at him, white. He could not speak. From behind, the song interposed its words.

"Those were the days, my friend,/ we thought they'd never end/ we'd live and dance/ forever and a day."

Patterson shook, as if to shake off the mocking words addressed to no one in particular. "The sheriff of Collinsport" he said, pretending disinterest. "A dead end job, sonny."

"Not really."

"It is, let me tell you. You bust your ass for those people, and what do you get? Kicked out on short notice when they get bored with you and decide that they'd rather have some newcomer with the right political connections. You never know when the voters will turn on you."

"I... I am sorry." he remembered now the bitter campaign that had led to Patterson's defeat.

"Not your fault. And I understand that Davenport got himself killed. And nobody solved _that_ one. Serve him right, I say."

Urien fidgeted in his seat. George saw it "Do you wish to go someplace else?" he asked him.

"Yeah, I'd like to go feed the sea lions."

"Fine, We will meet your there after we are done."

"That, or the manta ray tank."

"Fair enough. Just remember, be careful with the sea lions. They can't tell the difference between fingers and fish."

"I know."

"I don't want to explain to Barnabas how you came back with less than ten fingers."

Urien went, and Patterson followed him with his eyes, a cynical smile on his lips.

"Pretty boy." He said.

"Huh?" George was not sure what Patterson meant.

"I finally figured it out what was with Woodard and his boys." Patterson said, slowly "Fooled me all those years."

George did not know what to say.

"Yep, a real sly one, that Doc. And I actually sent boys to him. It actually did them good. Kept them from a life of crime. Look at you. Still, some were minors, and he could have gone to jail for it. And I was an accomplice.

"He's dead now."

"But you are alive. And that boy, how does he fit in? Are you taking care of you the way Woodard took care of you?"

"He's Barnabas Collins'' adopted son. He asked me to take him on a vacation. He was too busy to come here himself."

"And Barnabas Collins asked you? You that close to him, then? I don't recall being close to him myself. A queer customer. I wonder, I just wonder..." There was an evil glint in Patterson's eye.

"Patterson" There was regret in George's voice as he spoke. "When I was a kid, you were a hero to me. You still are. I admired you so much that I wanted to be like you. Please, don't destroy that."

Patterson just began caressing George's arm.

George pulled it away.

"What, am I wrong about you, then? Or just don't need it anymore now that the Doc is out of the way? Well, so much the better. I could not stand the thought of the Collinsport voters putting a pervert in my job."

George got up. "I am sorry, Patterson. I admired you greatly once. I can understand your being bitter. But I will not be insulted this way."

Patterson snickered.

"Don't say anything that you'll regret. If you need help, I'll be glad to give it. But let's not hurt each other. There is no need."

He left to join Urien, saddened a bit. He had, as he said, admired Patterson greatly. And to see him like this, bitter, hinting at blackmail...

His job had been everything to Patterson once. And when he had lost it, he had noting to fall back on...

There was a lesson in that.

* * *

"Julia... Julia Hoffman Anderson." Yolanda chanted.

She was naked and surrounded by her jewels. She stood in front of the mirror. She would need all her strength now. She needed it to make Julia Hoffman kill for her.

"Think, Julia, of how angry you are. Think of what makes you angry."

She felt Julia's emotions and fed them.

"It is unfair, isn't it?" she pursued her. "that he lives while other men, who deserved it more, did not. And why does Barnabas care for him so much? Is he worth it? You know that he is not. The world would be a better place without those like him."

She did not have to make up any of it. It was fed to her by Julia herself. All she had to do was voice them aloud, amplify them, and send them back.

Julia's hands opened and closed. She clenched her jaw and her eyes became glassy.

She had every right to kill him. And Barnabas had no right whatsoever to interfere..

She knew how to do it. She, the thought came to her unbidden, had done it before. She could do it again, and with better reason.

"Think, Julia Hoffman Anderson. Think of how much he deserves to die He has dealt in death. Deal death to him, and know the sweet taste of revenge."

The stones glowed with their own fire. It was almost painful to stand so near them. But it was also exhilarating. Yolanda was aware of the danger, more than ever. She had to find another source of supply before they drained her of life...

"Do it, Julia. For yourself and your loved ones."

She saw Julia. She saw the hypodermic. She saw Julia's tears...

* * *

Julia looked at the hypodermic. She knew what to do with it. She knew what drug to use.

Yet she delayed in doing so. What was the matter with her? What was she waiting for? That Barnabas should get up and see her like this, and confront her?"

Maybe that was what she wanted, not Nunez' death. She wanted Barnabas to know how she felt, she wanted him to come with some answers, wanted him to know her pain and rage...

She played with the needle...

Still Nunez deserved to die. And who better than herself to carry out the execution?


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It wasn't fair that Barnabas protected the son-of-bitch. She remembered Norma Alvarez. She had not been the only one. She had a dear friend in Argentina, and she and her family were not among the missing. It was another wound for her.

And Barnabas still wanted to help that... that animal up there. He actually thought it possible to teach him how to be a human being.

It was not fair. Why should he get all the attention? What had he done to deserve Barnabas' solicitude? It was a waste of Barnabas' time and effort. There were patients who needed him and who would be grateful for the help. Why should it go to scum like that?

Granted that Nunez knew too much and that a way had to be found to silence him. But there were other ways.

And this was better, much better.

The only good Nazi was a dead one.

And Nunez was one of them. Her childhood nightmare. True, he spoke a different language, and there were other differences, too. But she could recognize it.

And she would not tolerate it.

If Barnabas wanted to reform someone, there were plenty of other prospects...

He was taking up a bed that belonged to someone truly sick.

She would not stand for it. She would fix it. And if Barnabas did not like it, well, there were things about him that she did not like either...

* * *

"Do it Julia... do it..."

Yolanda whispered.

She felt faint... Any moment now she would fall unconscious. And the stones would feed.

She had to stop. Put the stones away, and r rebuild her strength. And do not take them out until she had other life to give them...

Julia would have to manage on her own...

* * *

Nunez was napping again. He was drifting between sleep and wakefulness, aware that he had been drugged, and unable to fight it.

He heard the door open and someone step in. She recognized the step of the director... Doctor Hoffman...

He knew that she was standing next to him, but was unable to open his eyes or say anything. Sleep weighted heavily on him.

Julia pulled up the sleeve and looked at the bare arm.

No one would know, she told herself. Not even Barnabas. Nunez had been very weak when they had brought him. What would be so strange if he were to die of it? His heart could give way very easily. And there were plenty of needle tracks already. One more would be barely noticed.

Barnabas would not even suspect it. But if he did... well, he had been the one who had shown her the way, hadn't he?

It seemed petty to bring that up, now, after what they had gone through. But still...

If Barnabas complained, let him answer why Nunez should be spared when Dave hadn't been. It should be the other way around.

* * *

Barnabas got up, feeling uneasy. He could not fully understand why, but something felt wrong, very wrong.

And it had something to do with Nunez.

He went up, trying to pin down his sense of uneasiness. It was something in the air. A kind of miasma that seemed to seep from the walls.

* * *

Nunez had begun to wake. He found himself wrapped tightly in a restraining sheet. And his eyes could now focus and widen in terror.

"You see." she explained to him. "there will be no marks on your body, except for the needle track, and on one will notice one more. It will look like a heart attack. Only a very complete autopsy would reveal otherwise. But who'd do one on somebody who was so obviously sick? You are a gone, Nunez. A real gone. But it will be painless. You should be grateful for that much. It is more than what you gave others."

"Julia!" Barnabas shouted from the door. "What are you doing?"

"You know what this is" Julia said coldly. "I used it once for you. I am entitled to use it for myself."

"Julia, be reasonable. You'll do no such thing."

"Why not? Did I stop you then? Why should you stop me now?"

"Because you want me to stop you."

"Why should I want such a thing?"

"Why did you wait until sundown? You had all day to do it, with me knowing nothing about it. But instead you waited. Because you know that it is wrong. And because it is not Nunez' life that you really want."

"What do you think I really want?"

"I am not sure, but you want to tell me about it. You can't get answers from him, but you think that you can from me if you threaten him."

"And?"

"You want to know why you had to lose your family as you did. Why you had to lose Richard. You want to know how these things can happen and keep happening."

Julia nodded.

"And you wonder if what you want will do any good."

She looked at the hypodermic in her hand. "It should" she said stubbornly. "At least, there is one less of them."

"It will not help."

"You are wasting your time and effort with him."

"As you wasted yours with me?"

She shook her head. "No, you were never as low as this."

"Are you sure? He does not seem much. He seems incapable of compassion, of any human feelings. So did I."

"But it was different with you."

Barnabas shook his head. "No, it was not."

"You never were like that."

"I was better. And worse, in some ways."

"Barnabas, you know that it is not so. You told me so when you talked about what you had seen in Parallel Time. Would you have saved Sergeant Haskell or Captain Todd.?"

"No" Barnabas admitted. "I would not."

"So why is this different?"

"Because he is my responsibility now. Maybe I should not have taken it, but I did, and I will uphold it."

Julia shook her head.

"It would solve all our problems."

"It would not. It would not return to you all you lost. It will not make sense of what is senseless. And I don't want my problems solved this way."

"Once you did."

Barnabas winced at this, then shook his head. "Julia, this is unworthy of you. It was bad enough when Maggie did it. But I thought that you were above it."

"Above what?"

"Exploiting my guilt feelings to make me agree to what I know is wrong."

"You know it is wrong?"

"Yes, Julia. And you know it too. There is no sense in taking it out on him. It provides no answers. And wouldn't it be a pity to suffer from guilt in his account?"

He extended his hand. Julia looked at it, not sure whether she wanted to give up the hypodermic yet.

* * *

Yolanda shivered. It had come so close... If she had fainted, she would have died.

She needed a new source of life for the stones before they drained her.

... And she still did not know if Julia had killed the man...


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Urien had feared that sharing a bedroom, even with separate beds, would bring problems. Well, there had been, but not the kind he expected.

To put it plainly, George Brant was as much a pain in the neck as Barnabas was. They always knew better than you, and they let you know it.

"You did not floss your teeth" that was one of the first things that George had made to him.

And he had had to floss. And every night after that. And brush them properly. And then George said that he would thank him for it. After all, he explained, the dentist's drill was worse, not to mention the Novocain shots that left your mouth numb for hours afterwards. That was scary, all right, Urien had to agree. Then George had chuckled and admitted that he faced gunfire a lot better than he faced his dentist.

But not tonight. George was not in the mood to lecture, note even in the mood to talk. He looked out of the window and brooded, just like Barnabas.

Patterson had left a bad taste in his mouth. George tried to dismiss the veiled threat, but he could not fully do it.

"Thinking about work?" Urien asked, a bit nervously "Barnabas told me to watch out for you doing it."

"And you do what Barnabas tells you?" he said with a bit of irony.

"I try to. :" Urien said earnestly. "After all, he is my father."

"Yup. He is. And I am Uncle George."

Urien was quiet for a few moments. Then he began talking again."

"Does this have to do with the man we met today?"

"Yes. He used to be the sheriff of Collinsport once."

"And now he's retired?"

"The voters retired him. Undeservedly so."

"You ran against him?"

"No. Davenport did. I came quite a bit after Davenport, who was killed by person or persons unknown. If he had not run against Patterson, then Patterson might have been the one killed by Jeb Hawkes."

"Jeb Hawkes? Who was he?"

"Before your time, kid. Before mine. Barnabas can tell you more than I can. Anyway, Patterson is not thankful that he escaped that fate. He still resents the way he was rejected, as if all those years of service that he had put on his job meant nothing " George's eyes became slightly off-focus "He had held the job for too long. He might have thought that it belonged to him by now. He knew, of course, that he could be turned out like that, but he thought himself immune to it. It was very humiliating for him to be defeated like he was. He is a bitter man, and he has some right to be bitter. In his time, he was something to see. He was one of the best."

He knew that he was beginning to make excused for Patterson, that he was blinding himself to the risk that Patterson represented. No, Patterson did not _really_ want to blackmail him. He was just venting his bitterness on him because he was young and strong and held Patterson's old job. But Patterson was too decent to commit blackmail. Yes, he was angry and taking his anger on him. But still, he was his childhood hero.

Was that true, really?

He wanted it to be true.

* * *

Julia juggled the hypodermic in her hands. She did not want to use it. No, that madness was past. Still...

There was something still pushing her, still riding her, but she could be stronger than it was...

"Don't play with it." Barnabas said.

She faced him. "Do you have any answers yet?" she asked.

"I don't.. I always told you that I did not have them.. Only that killing Nunez would not help."

"Why are you so determined that he should not die? Why do you care for him so much? What is he to you, really?"

"He is my responsibility. I told you before."

"And that is enough?"

"It is enough for me. And it was enough for you once."

"Do you know what he is, what he stands for?"

"I knew Norma Alvarez. She died in my arms, by my own hand. What more do you think I need to know?"Julia just shrugged.

"Julia, I know what memories this man brings. Not just your family, not just Richard. It is all of you. The consciousness that you are child of the Holocaust. It goes against your own sense of self that I should lavish care on someone like that."

"And you think that I am not entitled to it?"

"You are. But I don't know what kind of an explanation of justification you could be given that would make sense. I could offer you bromides, but we know better, you and I. I have seen what the world is like. Not enough to share your feelings, but maybe enough to somehow understand them... Don't forget, Julia, my own family was wiped out, too."

"It is not the same thing."

"Pain is pain. Loss is loss. Destruction is destruction. I had every right to hate Angelique, even if I remembered how my ill-thought actions aided in that destruction... Yet one day, Angelique and I made our peace."

"And you think that one day I will be able to accept Nunez, the same way that you accept Angelique?"

"It won't be easy. But it has to be done. After all, you don't want to jeopardize a patient's recovery, don't you?"

"A patient? What are you talking about?"

"Melinda Jessup."

"Melinda? What does she have to do with this?"

"Comet is the only one that she responds to. Didn't I tell you of it before?"

"Yes. You did. But that was the dog. That was when I thought that Comet as no more than a dog."

"He's no more than a dog. As a dog, he's very good. It is only as a human being that he is a disaster."

Julia did not seem too convinced by this sophistry.

"Julia, I am not asking you to go easy on him. God knows, what I did to him is not picnic. He is not enjoying himself."

Julia began playing with the hypodermic again. Her anger, which had seemed to subside, was flaring up again.

"Julia, you were offering him a quick, painless death. What kind of punishment is that, compared to what I am doing to him?"

"That's what Dave got."

"So Nunez should get much worse than that."

"And what you are doing to him is much worse?"

"Do you realize what being a dog means to him? He can think, but he can't use words. Ideas, concepts that once came easily to him now escape him. He misses the life he knew, but knows that he can only regain it if I am pleased with him. He hates my guts, but is totally dependent on my good will. He desperately wants to escape., and he knows how useless it is."

Julia looked down, thinking about it.

"It is much, much worse than what you were planning to do."

"But with hope at the end." she grumbled.

"It is up to him to earn it."

"Turn him back into a dog" she grumbled "Do it now. I can stand him as a dog, not as a man. While I see his face and hear his voice I will be tempted to do this again."

Barnabas nodded. "You are right. I should do it. He's well enough for that."

"Today. I cannot guarantee what I will do tomorrow during the daytime."

"All right. Today." He had hoped to have one more talk with Nunez, to trash out some ideas with him, but it was not possible. Julia was too shaken for it.

It was no surprised that Nunez protested when they made him get up. He was still sick, couldn't they see?

Julia tied his wrists with surgical gauze. "So you don't try to escape again." she said to him. "It is back to the doghouse, Fido."

"Don't worry. He won't escape this time." Barnabas said "When he comes back, it will be on all fours."

"Make sure of that."

Nunez began to scream. "You can't do this to me, you can't"

Julia taped his mouth shut. "Throwing a tantrum will not help" she said conversationally.

Barnabas made Nunez get up, then he lifted him up. Better to carry him, and spare him the walk in his weakened state.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Julia felt strangely drained. Nunez was gone and, in a couple of minutes Comet would return. She could not feel either anger or satisfaction when thinking of his fate. Her emotions had receded so far inside that she could not consciously reach them anymore.

Had she really tried to kill him? What for? As Barnabas said, it solved nothing.

And Comet was a good dog, she had to admit it too. Barnabas had been right about that, too.

Yet anger had filled her so much just a few hours ago, the hypodermic had looked so inviting. Had she, really?

* * *

Yolanda knew that she needed a power source. Not her, not the way she felt... But Peter would serve. She had class with him, and was unobserved. She would use him for this one time, and then look for another source.

"Hello Peter." she said. "want to build something?"

She let him play with the crayons she had carried, and then let his attention be drawn to the shiny pieces of glitter, that he glued to construction paper. There were rhinestones, that he handled with enthusiasm. And then his hand touched something that was not a rhinestone.

Yolanda directed her attention to it, making it feed on Peter. Not too much, but enough, then pulled Peter's hand away.

Was there fear for a moment in Peter's eyes? "I am sorry," she said to him. "this got here by mistake."

Peter seemed weak. But then kids are catching colds all the time. Tomorrow he's stay in bed, and maybe the next day.

And she had a charged stone, which she could use to see if Julia had indeed killed the man..

* * *

Nunez was naked, protesting still, but unable to resist. Barnabas directed him to the center of the circle and he had to obey. He laid down on the ground..

He was not dead... Yolanda noted... how could it be?

Barnabas spoke the words of the spell. Smoke rose around Nunez, covering him.

She chanced reading Barnabas' mind. There was no suspicion there of what Nunez had been up to when he was missing. And he was now turning him into a dog again...

But why had Julia failed at hilling him?

A few moments later the smoke cleared. Nunez was gone, and there stood Comet, looking sadly at Barnabas.

Just as well, Yolanda said. A dog would tell no tales. She was safe, at last for a while. Safe until she got a reliable source of power, and could plot her revenge against Angelique.

* * *

Angelique looked at the young woman leaving Megan's office.

"Is she the new teacher for Edmund?" she asked Megan.

"Yes. Martha Howard. Barnabas got Carolyn to see reason. She hired this new graduate in town to give Edmund lessons, one on one, on any subjects."

"Not a governess?"

"No. She refuses to live in Collinwood. And who can blame her?"

"This business with Liz did not make the Collinses more trustworthy. to the townspeople. They are also beginning to mistrust Barnabas, because he is one of them... Megan, could you imagine that one day a vampire would not be trusted because of his relatives?"

"Well, they trusted him more when Carolyn was his bitter enemy. Now that she is friendly again, they think that he may revert to being a Collins., Which may happen. But then, his problem was never being a vampire, it was being a Collins and not realizing that people who were not Collinses were human beings. That's why he killed when you first cursed him. Because he was a Collins and they were only dockside hookers. If it was not for that, he'd have learned to be careful then. And maybe been spared being locked in that coffin. He'd have learned very early how to fly under the radar and leave no trail..."

"You are right. It was that damned Collins pride. How in infuriated me."

'You and me. And we are not the only ones... Like Martha, who came here to be bitten, so that if anything happens to her, I will know about it, and will pull her out if she needs to be rescued."

* * *

"Julia, it is done." Barnabas said to her."

"Where is he?"

"Back in the kennel."

"Is he all right?"

"Yes, why shouldn't he be?"

Julia nodded. "I am trying to apologize for going berserk like that. Only that apologizing is something that I never managed very well."

"It was quite a bombshell that I dropped on you."

"I could not have him under my roof."

"I realize that now."

"Can you really understand how I felt?"

Barnabas kissed her forehead. "No, I really can't. It awoke too many bad memories in you. I had no right to awaken them as I did."

Julia just shook her head. "You have no idea of what it is like. No idea at all."

"No, I don't But I caught a glimpse of it in Parallel Time. Did I tell you what I did to Captain Todd?"

"You did."

"I would not take his blood. He was bleeding all over the place and I would not touch his blood. It would defile me. That was why I would not let Nunez get away with it after Norma died."

"I know that. But you also gave him a second chance. And I resented that. Because there were others that deserved a second chance better, and never got it."

"Well, maybe you are right." Barnabas shook his head. "But, as I said before, and will say it again and again, I am now responsible for him. Yes, maybe he does not truly deserve a second chance. But he could certainly use one. And I have committed myself. And then I want him to get what I got. I want him to reach the point where he will hurt for Norma as I hurt for her. As I got to hurt for Ruby Tate and for Dave, for all that I cannot undo. I want him to know her, to value her. I want him to feel the sense of loss that I feel."

Julia grinned "You can be quite a son-of-a bitch, you know."

"Yes. But I was taught it. The same thing was done to me. Do you remember years ago that you warned me that I would not like being human again? That I'd suffer the pangs of guilt if I did? You were right about that. But still, I had to become human again. And so has he. It is worth the pain of it."

"Yes, it is." Julia admitted.

"Can you accept him as a dog? Or would you rather I took him someplace else?"

"No. I can handle him as a dog."

"Good." Barnabas shook his head. "This business is putting a strain between me and George. He does not like what I am doing. He can agree with the intent of it, but it is still taking the law into my own hands. God knows that he has bent a few himself, doing favors for me or Megan. But this is too much for him to stomach. And our relationship makes it worse. He can't help feeling that I am taking advantage of the fact that we are lovers to get away with this."

"And are you?"

"Maybe a bit. But I would have done it, anyway."

"Yes." Julia sighed "You just act on impulse and only later wonder what the consequences might be. I still remember how you managed to get sent to Parallel Time. You were damn luck that Sabrina did not just decide to kill you, if you ask me."

"I think that by now George must have realized the same thing. And the vacation may well do wonders for his temper."

"You realize how serious the situation is for him."

"Yes. It involves too much of what he believes in. It threatens his integrity." he sighed "there are times when I wish I hadn't gotten involved in this."

"There are times when I wonder why I got involved with you." Julia confessed "Specially when you get one of your ideas. There are times when I don't, though."

"Good.. And maybe one day I will be glad that I did this."


End file.
